When compared to the same month the previous year, the amount of domestic aviation traffic in India increased by 18.8 percent in June. Domestic airlines carried 1.24 crore passengers in June, according to data that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) made available on July 13.
In spite of this, domestic air traffic in June was down 5.5 percent compared to the previous month of May, when carriers transported 1.32 crore passengers. When compared to the levels that existed before COVID, the volume of air traffic has significantly increased. In June 2019, domestic airlines transported just 1.20 million passengers.
This month, June, represents the fourth consecutive month in which domestic aviation traffic in India has exceeded levels seen in India prior to the implementation of COVID.
The Aviation Pie
IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, saw its market share increase by 180 basis points in June, marking the second consecutive month of growth in market share after the demise of GoFirst, which ceased all operations on May 2.
IndiGo’s market share increased by 390 basis points in May, 70 basis points in April, 90 basis points in March, and 130 basis points in February, reaching a total of 63.2 percent for the month of June. In the month of June, the low-cost airline carried 78.93 lakh passengers.
One tenth of a percentage point is equivalent to one basis point.
Air India continued to be the second-largest domestic airline in the month of June, maintaining its position as the second-largest domestic carrier overall and achieving a market share of 9.7 percent by transporting 12.13 lakh passengers.
The airline owned by the Tata Group had an increase in its market share for two months in succession, May and June, mostly as a result of the temporary grounding of Go First.
Air India saw its market share decrease from 9.2 percent in January to 8.6 percent in April, with a monthly decline of 20–30 basis points.
The market share held by Vistara for the month of June dropped by 90 basis points, coming in at 8.1 percent; the airline carried 10.11 lakh passengers during that time.
In terms of market share, AirAsia India, which also belongs to the Tata portfolio of companies, moved up to the number four slot. As a result of the carrier serving 10.04 lakh customers in June, the company’s market share increased by 10 basis points to 8 percent.
The newly established airline Akasa Air surpassed SpiceJet in terms of market share in the month of June. In that month, Akasa Air transported 6.18 lakh passengers, which gave it a market share of 4.9 percent. In the month of June, Akasa Air recorded a growth of 10 basis points in its market share.
In June, SpiceJet had a further decline of 100 basis points in its market share. This comes as the company continues to struggle with its ability to operate as a result of financial restrictions.
SpiceJet was placed under “enhanced surveillance” by the DGCA on July 11 in response to the low-cost airline experiencing a number of adverse financial conditions in recent weeks.
SpiceJet’s many lessors have filed claims with the airline seeking repossession of their aircraft over the course of the last several months, and the company has resolved some of these claims.
In May, SpiceJet’s market share went down by 40 basis points; in April, it went down by 60 basis points; in March, it went down by 70 basis points; in February, it went down by 20 basis points; and in January, it went down by 30 basis points.
According to statistics provided by the DGCA, the airline’s market share has seen a declining trend for the last thirteen months in a row. In February 2022, SpiceJet’s market share was at its highest point, reaching 10.7 percent.
IndiGo has taken the lion’s share of GoFirst’s market share during the last two months, increasing its market share by 570 basis points and transporting 8.29 lakh more passengers than GoFirst did in April (when GoFirst’s market share was 6.4 percent and it carried 8.29 lakh passengers).
In the month of June, the passenger load factors, also known as occupancy rates, for SpiceJet, Vistara, IndiGo, Air India, and AirAsia India were, in order: 93.6 percent, 93.1 percent, 90.9 percent, 88.2 percent, and 91.8 percent.
In June, the 11th month of operations for Akasa Air, the passenger load factor remained unchanged at 91.1 percent from the previous month. Akasa Air is India’s newest airline.
According to the collected data, there were up to 344 passenger complaints received in the month of June. The number of complaints received for every 10,000 people transported was around 0.28.
Vistara had the greatest on-time performance in June, displacing Akasa Air from first place, which they had held for three consecutive months in a row up until May. At four major airports (Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Mumbai), Vistara had an on-time performance of 88.3 percent.
Air Asia came in second, followed by IndiGo and Aksa Air in third place, respectively.
As a result of the significant rains that occurred across India in June, several flights were delayed, which resulted in a decline of 4-5 percent in the on-time performance of Indian carriers when compared to May.
